Kansas City Royals vs St. Louis Cardinals 5-23-2018

Pick, Prediction, & Preview:

Kansas City Royals vs St. Louis Cardinals

The finale of a 3-game set between the visiting Kansas City Royals and the St Louis Cardinals will resume on Tuesday night at 8:15 pm EST at Busch Field in St. Louis, Missouri. The Royals currently occupy the 5th spot int eh AL Central while the Cardinals are in 2nd place in the NL Central division. This will be the 1st matchup of the season amongst these two squads, however, the Cardinals have won the last 4 matchups with 2 in a row being at Busch Field.

Kansas City Royals's Latest Performance :

The Royals come into this matchup losers of 4 of their last 5 games to where the O/U was 3-2. Recently, the Royals dropped a 3-game road set to the Cleveland Indians on 5-13-2018. They followed this up with a lackluster effort at home against the Tampa Bay Rays in a 3-game home set on 5-16-2018 in which they were swept. The Royals, in their following series, went on to lose a 3-game home set versus the New York Yankees on 5-20-2018.

For the season, the Royals are averaging 3.96 runs per game (26th) with a team batting average of .256 (9th), 39 homers (29th), along with 22 stolen bases (16th). Their pitching staff ranks at the bottom with an ERA of 5.55 (30th) with 314 strikeouts (30th) with 17 quality starts on the year (19th).

Mike Moustakas (.294 BA on 180 AB), Jorge Soler (.297 BA on 148 AB), and Whit Merrifield (.292 BA on 178 AB) have been solid thus far at the plate for Kansas City. Jon Jay (.298 BA on 175 AB) and Lucas Duda (.256 BA on 133 AB) have also provided a small spark to the offense this season.

Jakob Junis (5-3) has been a bright spot for the Royal pitching staff this year going 56.1 innings this year while allowing 22 runs on 49 hits, 11 homers, 12 walks, and 48 strikeouts with an ERA of 3.51. Ian Kennedy (1-4), Jason Hammel (0-5), and Danny Duffy (1-6) have combined for 151 innings while allowing 106 runs on 180 hits, 29 homers, 57 walks, and 117 strikeouts with a combined ERA of 5.46.

St. Louis Cardinals's Latest Performance :

The Cardinals have won 3 of their last 5 games where the O/U was 3-2. Recently, after the Cards swept an impressive 3-game home sweep against the Chicago Cubs on 5-6-2018, they were swept by the hot Minnesota Twins on 5-8-2018 in a 2-game set while tying a 4-game set versus the San Diego Padres on 5-13-2018. The Cardinals then tied a 2-game road set against the Twins on 5-16-2018 while tying yet another 4-game set against the Phillies on 5-20-2018.

For the season, the Cardinals are averaging 4.45 runs per game (13th) with a team batting average of .237 (22nd), 55 homers (12th), along with 21 stolen bases (18th). Their pitching staff has an ERA of 3.47 (5th) with 370 strikeouts (22nd) and 20 quality starts on the year (13th).

Tommy Pham (.312 BA on 141 AB), Jose Martinez (.312 BA on 160 AB), Paul DeJong (.260 BA on 150 AB), and Yadier Molina (.272 BA on 114 AB) have been the most consistent batters at the plate for St. Louis this season. Marcell Ozuna (.234 BA on 171 AB) has also been solid at the plate for the Cardinals this year.

Carlos Martinez (3-2) has pitched 50 innings this year while allowing 12 runs on 32 hits, 1 homer, 22 walks, and 47 strikeouts with an ERA of 1.62 while Miles Mikolas (5-0) has pitched 51.1 innings and allowing 16 runs on 49 hits, 6 homers, 5 walks, and 37 strikeouts with an ERA of 2.63. Michael Wacha (5-1) has 49.2 IP, 19 R, 44 H, 3 HR, 21 BB, and 44 SO along with an ERA of 3.08.

How Kansas City Royals & St. Louis Cardinals Matchup.

Vegas Odds, Offshore Odds, & Odds ATS:

For the season, the Royals are 17-29 ATS while the O/U is 19-25-2. On the other hand, the Cardinals are 19-25 ATS while the O/U is 17-23-4.

In-Depth Analysis of each team:

The Royals have been terrible all season and have recently lost 9 of their last 11 games while the Cardinals are attempting to come out of their current funk in which they lost 5 of their last 7 contests. St. Louis has played well at Busch Field this year (14-9 ML) while the Royals, as one would expect, have play equally as awful on the road thus far in the season (7-14 ML). Since the Cards have recently had issues with their offense and overall play at the mound, it will be interesting to see how they perform against a team that they have owned in the past, both at home and at Kauffman Stadium.

Against The Spread Selection: St. Louis Cardinals

My reason for the pick :

I will back the Cardinals to win their 2nd in a row in the finale. The truth is that the Royals have played too inconsistently on the road to back, thus the Cardinals will certainly have a chance to pick up some wins in which to get back into the NL Central race for 1st place. As I stated before, this matchup comes down to the team that I trust the most in which to get the job done in game 3. With that being said, I have no trust in the Royals at this point and will gladly side with the home team to pull out the win.

Betting trends for Kansas City Royals:

Betting Trends for Kansas City Royals

The Royals are 1-6 in their last 7 games

The Royals are 3-6 in last 9 road games

The Over is 4-2 in Royals last 6 road games

Betting trends for St. Louis Cardinals:

Betting Trends for St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals are 6-4 in last 10 home games

The Cardinals are 9-7 in last 16 games

The Under is 6-3-1 in Cardinals last 10 home games

Falepa

A sports analyst and enthusiast, Filipa enjoys writing articles for NHL, NBA, NCAAB, and, of course, for NCAAF. In addition, he enjoys the true art of breaking down games in such as way as to locate certain trends that can impact future contests. With a willingness to research, construct, and relay information that any reader can understand, Filipa aims to provide the reader with interesting & indepth knowledge for upcoming sporting events.